Passengers are requested not to sleep on the floor

No joke - it`s in the SAS flight safety video. Makes you wonder what class of passenger they get...

The flight from Zurich to Copenhagen was fine, in a thin plane which had two seats each side of a very narrow aisle, apart from the man beside me who would alternately nearly smack me in the face with his elbow while tearing pages out of magazines and stuffing them down the front of his sweater, breathe out open-mouthed making a humming noise, and adjust his privates conspicously. I hoped he was not going to Tokyo.

Copenhagen airport is very nice, and has a Lego shop with Lego Star Wars t-shirts! I could only see kid sizes. I sat and read my guidebooks until it was time to board the Tokyo flight. It was packed solid and my neighbour couldn`t operate the in-flight entertainment, kept hitting the call bell by mistake and tried to take a used hot towel from the attendent collecting them. The meals were okay and seats pretty comfortable. I watched New Moon until the vampire came back in, at which point it got pretty boring and I listened to music and tried to doze through my neighbour getting changed and repacked in her seat.

Tokyo was an incredible 20 degrees when we landed, and I made my way through immigation and customs without problems. There were several adorable sniffer labradors on constant patrol, and I was asked if I lived in Japan for some reason (as the customs guy was flicking through my passport with the embarcation card stapled to it). I found the post office and got my phone, stopped for a drink, then on to the Keisei line to Ueno and then out by subway to Kami-Meguro where my friend lives.

We got back to hers and I told her about the Niagara Curry House featured in the English-language Asahi paper that weekend, and it turns out she brings her kids there all the time! We went and had what she tells me is an average curry, but it`s all good for me. Photos are here!

After we got back to her house we chatted until she went to pick her sons up from the creche about 5:00, and I went for a lie down. Woke up at 10:00 as the boys were being put to bed. Went back to sleep and woke up very early indeed - it`s now just gone 7:00am and people are moving. Time to get washed and dressed and hit Tokyo!